


Yarne's Truth

by Kumikoko



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Future Ark, Gen, Story Speculation, short and simple, tragic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2020-02-09 23:13:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18648073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kumikoko/pseuds/Kumikoko
Summary: This is the retelling of how Yarne became the last of the Taguel and joined the Stonewall group.





	Yarne's Truth

**Author's Note:**

> I realized that the reason Yarne is as timid as he is is probably because he had brothers or sisters who perished before him in the original story line, or the tragic future ark that Lucina tries desperately to change. This made me want to write a really short fanfic of how that dark future might have played out. 
> 
> Since those who dislike the taguel enough to genocide them are never identified in the video game, I had to create my own enemy who is, true to the video game, nameless. And since it's been awhile since I played the game I had to research it a bit online. 
> 
> Per character accounts, Yarne's past is a bit...inconsistent. So I did my best.

**Yarne's Truth**

Creatures of the night awakened to flee their homes as the forest was illuminated in a red glow from the ominous fire crackling and spreading through. One shadowy figure raced around the ancient banyan trees. His heart raced within his chest while his elongated feet thumped against the dirt.

All he knew was that his mother had told him to ‘run.’ And run he did.

He had been scavenging alongside his mother for wild carrots when men with beards and scimitars ambushed them, shouting unfamiliar words. Swords were drawn. Mother was backed against a cliffside wall, standing between them and her frightened child.

In one swoop and toss, he was safe atop the cliff and then she transformed into a taguel to fight off the foreign men.

What became of her, the youth did not know. He only knew he had been instructed to run and retreat back to their subterranean tunnels.

A familiar hole was spotted in the ground. He leapt for it, but smoke repelled him and left him coughing.

Every rabbit hole he came across was ablaze with the fire and screams of a dying taguel family, caught off-guard during the night.

Another genocide, in the name of a false religion.

With no safe haven for him to retreat to, he ran wildly with no idea as to where he was supposed to go. The panicked forest critters rushed from their homes to escape the billowing smoke. Their voices overlapped and melded into one predominant thought;

Run.

This notion pumped through the child’s veins and gave him the strength to run through the forest. He tripped over exposed tree roots in his frantic haste and was hit in the face by low hanging branches but still he ran, knowing his life depended on it.

Only when the forest was behind him did he collapse into crick, submerging himself into the water to hide his scent from potential predators. When he surfaced, he threw his arms around a rock and struggled to regain lost breath.

Ahead of him was a waterfall he recognized from an adventure with one of his six brothers. He pulled himself onto the rock and hopped onto the boulders he remembered from memory which led him behind the waterfall.

A small, dark cave awaited him. He leapt for the ledge. His foot slipped on the wet rock beneath him and he plummeted into the chilly water. The current forced him under, leaving him flailing desperately. His lungs burned for air and his eyes began to blur.

Through sheer willpower the boy clawed his way through the water and broke through the surface. He gasped, sputtered, and coughed as he tried to recover from his harrowing mishap.

As soon as he had regained his strength, he leapt onto the rocks again, knowing the only place he could hide out was the secret cave his elder brother had shown him. The water would mask his scent while the crashing roar of the waterfall would muffle any sound he made.

Knowing it was imperative he reach the cave, he gauged each jump before making the leap. With a properly accessed jump he landed onto the hard ground of the cave and panted, relieved, yet shaken up from the daring escape.

With no one to comfort him, he curled up against a wall and shivered, wondering what had happened to his mother. He was cold, and uncomfortably wet. His body was sore while the soles of his feet pounded. Never had he ran that fast before, without guidance from a brother, or a parent.

During the remainder of the night he dared not move, not even when his stomach began to groan with hunger.

When morning came, he hopped onto the rocks to reach the land. He stumbled onto the crick’s bank and looked around with cautious brown eyes. The world around him seemed quiet.

Even the forest critters weren’t saying much as he wandered into the forest. A few of them spoke in hushed whispers but it was hard for the boy to make any of the words out, even with his advanced hearing since his mind was elsewhere. He tried to use his keen sense of smell to lead him home but all he could smell was fresh smoke from fires that raged in the night.

He crinkled his nose at the unpleasant scents and pressed an arm against his nose. There were other burnt scents as he neared one of the bunny hoes. The surrounding trees had been ravaged and blackened with fire, but he ignored them as he hopped into the scorched ground.

As he traversed through the tunnel he was stopped by a blackened skeleton. Charred hand bones stuck out, as if reaching for him. He recoiled, frightened by the prospect that the skeleton was of similar height to one of his brothers.

With no way to continue through the tunnel without disturbing the corpse, he scurried back through the tunnel to find one of the alternate entrances.

The next entrance he found led him into the familiar nest, though it had been ravaged by a fire. He wandered through it, calling for his family.

Only charred skeletons remained.

 

. . .

A few years passed.

He was orphaned and was going through bodily changes he did not understand. Nor could he focus on them because he was busy just trying to survive in a world overrun with monsters.

These monsters rarely had beards, but they were just as intimidating and with each one encountered, he ran away from, retreating into the cave behind the waterfall that he had made to be his home.

It was an unusual home for a taguel but there was sense and safety behind it.

Though he knew he could not live out the rest of his life here. The wild carrots that had once been plentiful during his time as a child living in the forest were becoming scarce. It was time to move on, but he knew not where.

What he did know was that animals who traveled in packs tended to live longer. There was safety in numbers and he intended to find a pact.

As luck had it, when he hopped around the waterfall to forage for food, he stopped, noticing a group of humans had taken up camp near the riverbank. They wore silver armor and each of them had weapons strapped to their person.

Painted on their shield and chest was a bright red cross. He knew not what it meant, nor did he care because he had already decided that they looked strong and wanted to join them, if they would have him.

The Stonewall Crusaders were alarmed by his presence, but once they realized he was a timid rabbit, they withdrew their weapons. ‘Mercy’ was the group’s mantra after all. They took the lost, timid teenager into their ranks and sheltered him through many a battle with brigands and their natural enemies.

In time, they even referred to him by his name, “Yarne.”

And as he began to trust them, he confided in them.

“I am the last of the taguel. My family was killed in the night when I was young, leaving me alone.”

It was a truth that would haunt him well into adulthood.


End file.
